After, 6 hours of flying from San Francisco to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta to Portland, Maine, I was absolutely exhausted. I waited at the baggage claim for the camp instructors to pick me up. While waiting, I met two campers from Denver, Colorado. We began to talk while we waited for the instructors together. Once they arrived, we all jumped into the camp's van and drove for an hour and a half to the dock where we would get on a boat that would bring us to Hog Island, the setting of our camp. To my surprise, Hog Island was no more than a quarter-mile from the mainland, so the boat ride would be extremely short. However, the next boat that would bring us was in an hour and a half. So in the meantime, the instructors encouraged us to bird a nearby short nature walk. As we walked along this hike, there weren't too many birds present. The first bird that showed itself was a beautiful male Yellow-Rumped "Myrtle" Warbler (not to be confused with the Audubon's form that has yellow throat, rather than a white throat). Twenty feet ahead, we had a nice view of the channel that separated the mainland from Hog Island. I carefully scanned this channel, in search of any aquatic birds. There were a couple Double-Crested Cormorants sunning their wings on the rocks. Then, I noticed this bird paddling its webbed feet. It was a very plain looking bird, but it nonetheless filled me with excitement, for it was my first lifer of the trip: a female Common Eider! Eiders are arctic ducks that breed in the high arctic. This is the only species of eider that breeds as far down as Maine. This first lifer made my day, especially after the long and unpleasant flight. As we continued to walk along this hike, I noticed more and more cormorants. Then, I got the next thrill of the day. I found three entirely black birds floating on the water's surface, with white wing patches and bright red webbed feet. This bird was the Black Guillemot. This bird looks very similar to its west coast's counterpart, the Pigeon Guillemot. They are near-impossible to differentiate. Thankfully, their ranges don't meet, except for the very northern tip of Alaska. Flying above these small alcids were flocks of Herring, Laughing, and the largest species of gull in the world, the Great Black-Backed Gull, with a wingspan of 5 feet. This bird is capable of swallowing eider chicks whole (trust me, I saw the video!), so it poses as a threat for any nesting bird and its chances of raising chicks. The hike then brought us deeper in the forest where we kept on hearing little chirps, but no bird let itself be seen. This was a very frustrating aspect of birding in the forest. Then, a black-and-white flash zipped right in front of me and into a spruce right next to us. We waited for it to leave its cover of pine needles, and make itself visible. Once it did so, I had the biggest smile on my face. I had just found my lifer Black-and-White Warbler. Not only was this a lifer, but it was also my first ever eastern warbler that I've found on the east coast. I have seen a couple east coast warbler vagrants in San Francisco, but since I've never been to the east coast, I've never had the chance to see them in their normal range. I was ecstatic, this trip was already on a good start. Then, we found a family of Golden-Crowned Kinglets, with one drab looking fledgling.
It was finally time for us to get on the boat, and head to Hog Island. As we rode this boat, the chilling wind and salty smell of the sea really made me feel like I was on the Atlantic Coast. We arrived 3 minutes later (like I said before, the island is only a quarter-mile away). We were then immediately greeted by the camp's director, Scott Weidensaul. For those of you who don't know, Scott is a renowned and respected birder. He has written several books, such Of a Feather and Living on the Wind. He is truly a legend in my eyes, which is why it was amazing to have him directing this camp. He gave us a little introduction on what was going to happen this week, and showed us to our cabins. All the teens were put in the same cabin called the Crow's Nest. Unfortunately, this was the furthest cabin from what I would call the "quad". Oh well. Then, everybody at the camp was to meet in a building at the "quad", both teens and adults. I participated in the Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens, so I was mostly hanging out with the teens, but there were also adults on the island, doing their own "camp". So we were a total of 50 about. We all introduced ourselves inside of the building. It was a way for us to have an idea of who was who, and where they were from. Once that was over, we had about 2 hours to kill before dinner, so my friend from San Francisco, Logan Kahle, the guy from Denver that I met at the airport, Francis, and I, birded the forest. We didn't find anything noteworthy, simply heard a couple warblers. We then decided to talk with Scott and get to know him. Finally, we had dinner, which was absolutely delicious. The chef at this camp was incredible (he made everything from scratch: the granola, the yogurt, and even the bread!). After dinner, we all met up in the same building as before, where Stephen Kress, the founder of Project Puffin, explained to everybody the history of Hog Island, the situation of the puffins before the project, the creation of Project Puffin, and its success. It was a riveting presentation that really opened my eyes on the good that this man brought to the world. After the presentation, all the teens had to stay in the building so we can talk about the next day. Our counselors, Doug Wentzel and Heather Richard, told us how that week was going to go down, and what we were going to do. These two people were so nice, insightful, and knowledgeable, that it bums me out that we only spent 5 days with them.
At the end of the day, we all went into our rooms, where we decided who would sleep where (I got the only single bed!). We showered up, brushed our teeth, and finally went to bed.
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